Josef Blahnik, born January 1, 1829, and who was
the proprietor in house #16 in Smrzovice, had with his wife, Magdalena, 8
children. The eldest was Josef, who when he was only 15 years old, during the
period of 'Moving Fever,' took off to America where he was a farmer and because
already as a boy he loved music, he became to be a leader of his own family
band. This eldest son, Josef, in America in Kewaunee, Wisconsin had 6 children
who were in sequence: Adolph, Emily, Joseph, Alios, Frank, & Otto. He also had 5
brothers and sisters who moved, to America. They were; Jan, Vaclav (who was a
blacksmith), Frantishek (who was a cabinetmaker and had a wife from the house
#24 in Smrzovice called 'od Tondu'), Anna (who married Josef Koutnik from Lhota),
and Katherine (who married Kveton from Lhota--'od Stasku'). Another sister,
BARBORA married Vaclav Halama who was a cottager in Lhota ('u
Sloupiku'). The farm #16 in Smrzovice went to a younger brother, Jakub, who was
born on January 5, 1863. This brother, Jakub, married on May 20, 1890, Anna, who
was the daughter of Martin Sedlak, a farmer from Cernikov in house #55. The
father, Jakub, of these children died in Klatovy (in the hospital) on September
21, 1931, and his wife, Anna, died in Smrzovice on
July 2, 1936. They are buried in the Blahnik family grave in the Loucim church
yard cemetery.